Rose Red A Creepypasta Story
by YeahItsArya
Summary: After being taken to Zalgo's realm, Claudia suddenly disappears. As Slenderman and the rest of the Creepypastas search for her, Claudia finds herself in a strange place with a very strange man
1. The Tall Man

Claudia sat up on the bench she had been lying on, and blinked a few times, before rubbing her eyes. What had happened? One moment she was in that dark cave with Zalgo, and the next, she was - well, here. Claudia looked around herself, trying to work out where _here_ was. With little success. It was a garden, a rose garden, that much she knew. It was very pretty, and filled with wonderful floral scents. There were roses of almost every colour imaginable, casting a rainbow effect across the expansive bushels.

Claudia slid off the bench in an attempt to walk around, but found herself very dizzy all of a sudden, and fell. Before she could hit the ground, something caught her. A little puzzled, she looked at the long, white tendril, and followed it up to the body of a very tall and slender man. She was about to cry out with joy, but then realised that she did not know this man at all. He was not _her_ Slenderman.

This man dressed differently. That was the first thing Claudia had noticed. Instead of the clean black business suit, this man wore a black trench coat with a tie, business-like pant, a stylish black hat, and black cowboy boots. The trench coat was loose enough for Claudia to realise he wore little else underneath.

Despite this style change, Claudia didn't notice anything else that set him apart from her Slenderman - well, almost. Claudia did recall that her Slenderman had _black_ tendrils, not the white ones this man sported.

The man lifted her up by her waist to get a better look at the child, and then did the weirdest thing. He _smiled_.

Claudia's eyes widened as she looked at the large toothy grin, filled with rows of sharp fangs. Slenderman couldn't smile, she knew _this_ for a fact. Her Slenderman had no face - no mouth to smile.

"Why, hello there~" the man purred softly, reminding Claudia of an over-sized kitty-cat.

"Um, hello," Claudia said in amazement.

The man carried the girl over to the bench and sat down, placing Claudia on his lap.

"Your tongue is black," Claudia stated suddenly, causing the man to look at her with confused shock.

"What?"

"Your tongue," Claudia repeated. "It's black. Why do you have a mouth anyway? That's silly."

The man laughed. "Why do you have a mouth?" he questioned her.

Claudia shook her head. "It's not the same," she insisted, in a matter-of-factly tone. "You're like Mr Slendy-Man, and _he_ doesn't have a mouth."

"Ah," the man said, taking off his hat and setting it down beside him. "Well, you see, I am his brother."

"Oh," Claudia said. "Are you called Mr Slendy-Man too?"

This made the man laugh again. "Oh, no, dear little one~" he purred. "You may call me Se- er. . . I mean, _Offenderman_."

Claudia smiled and nodded. "O-Off. . . Offen. . . Offendy-er-"

"You'll get it eventually, kid," Offenderman chuckled. "So, why don't you tell me _your_ name, huh?"

"Claudia!" Claudia chirped in a sing-songy voice.

Offenderman flashed her a cheshire smile and the plucked a single red rose from a nearby bushel and offered it too her. "Well, Claudia, my dear, would you like a rose?" he asked.

As if a three year old knew any better, Claudia smiled and nodded as he took the rose, smelling its beautiful floral scent. "Thank you!"


	2. Chasing Tails On The Trail To Nowhere

"_HOW THE FUCK COULD YOU LOSE HER LIKE THAT SLENDY!?_" Jeff roared, stabbing his knife repeatedly into the table top until it finally suck stiff in the wood.

It had been almost a week since Zalgo had abducted Claudia - a week since the Pastas had seen her - and everyone was on edge, and worried about the small child. Jeff, in particular, was becoming more and more agitated as the days progressed, and Slenderman feared what might become of them all if they didn't find Claudia soon. Jeff was rather unpredictable like that.

_Why do you assume it is my fault? _Slenderman demanded, his voice distorted slightly with static. _I am as much to blame as you and everyone else._

Jeff growled, wrenching his knife free from the wood, twisting it as he did and causing the oak wood to splinter even more as he looked up to the faceless entity looming above him.

"I'm sure she's fine!" EJ said quickly before World War III could begin inside the living room of their home.

Jeff growled and tossed out a few choice words directed at the cannibal.

"All I meant was," EJ said, now talking to Slenderman, and ignoring Jeff, "that she's brave, right? Any one of us could have killed her at any time. Jeff, for example, was actually planning on it."

"I changed my mind!" Jeff protested.

"But why?" EJ shot at the raven-haired serial killer.

Jeff paused. "Because I. . . I. . ."

"Did she hug you?"

Jeff glared at EJ. "NO!"

Everyone stared at Jeff, calling his bluff.

". . . Maybe." When that didn't work, Jeff groaned, rolling his eyes. "Okay! Fine. Yes, she hugged me. But, that's not the reason!"

"Why did you want to know that EJ?" Masky asked.

"Haven't you all noticed that, no matter what we all thought when we met her, as soon as that little critter wrapped her arms around us none of that mattered?" EJ asked, glancing around at the others. "She's hugged all of us at least once. So, who's to say that maybe she's special?"

_Now that you mention it, Jack, I do recall something Zalgo had said,_ Slenderman mused, his memory returning to that night one week ago. _He had called her 'Unknown'. . . He said Claudia was not human._

"Not human?" Jane repeated, confused.

Slenderman nodded. _He said her race was not known to him, so that is what he would call her: Unknown._

"This isn't helping," Jeff murmured. "We should be out there looking for her."

"How can we?" Hoodie demanded, his stern tone made several people jump in surprise. "After your little stunt down the main street, we have wanted posters up looking for us! You want to find her? So do we! So, suck it up Jeff, we've already tried it your way."

Everyone fell silent, standing there, looking at Hoodie, completely dumbfounded by what they had just witnessed.

Hoodie shifted his weight awkwardly. "Uhm, you know, if that's okay with you?"


	3. The Hunt Begins

Over the next few weeks, Slenderman had his proxies out scouring near and far for Claudia. Seeing as Masky, Hoodie, Skully and Toby all were human and could relatively blend in with the world, the three of them had been given this task, while Slenderman spread the word to his many, _many_ family members, hoping one had seen or heard of where the three-year-old could be, and if they could keep an eye out.  
Some of the Slender Family were concerned and promised to look out for Claudia, others just didn't care.

BEN decided to travel through technology in hopes to spot Claudia on the other side of the screen, while LJ searched the abandoned theme parks, Jeff took Smile to search the forests, and Eyeless Jack scoured fields and burrows with the Seed Eater. Everyone else searched for little Claudia in their own way, each desperately hoping to find her quickly, before anything bad happened to her.

Meanwhile, Masky was in charge of the group of proxies that were searching out in the public. He lead the group down to the main street with Hoodie following beside him, Toby bounced along energetically behind them - still buzzing from all that sugary syrup he'd eaten with his waffles this morning - and Skully mopingly trudging along behind them.

"We should split up," Hoodie suggested as they walked.

Masky nodded.

"Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Can I-"

Masky turned and shoved Toby towards Skully. "You two go look in the parks and recreational grounds - farms and whatnot," he said, just wanting to get Toby out of the way, and somewhere where he can't screw everything up. "Hoodie and I will stay in town and scout out the houses and stores and see if we can find her here."

Toby looked slightly disappointed, but Skully didn't seemed to be phased, as usual. Skully was the only one who never got to meet Claudia, so he wasn't sure what all the fuss was about. Dragged along on the search, he was past being frustrated by now, and had opted for being as uselessly mopey as he possibly could, hoping that someone would just tell him to forget about it - though he was starting to think that no one would.

Toby grabbed Skully's arm and towed him in the direction of the nearest park, while Hoodie and Masky breathed a sigh of relief just before starting their own search.

* * *

Everyone had tried their best. They scoured every inch of the town and surrounding areas at least twice, but with no sign or hint that Claudia had been there. Finally, after a long tiring day, they all came back to Slender Mansion to report their sad news. No one wanted to hear it, but when Claudia didn't walk through the door along side any of the pastas, they knew that she was still missing.

"Gone," Jeff breathed as he sat at the dinner table, poking his food absently with his fork. "I can't believe it. . . nothing. . ."

The whole table stayed silent, remorseful and, in a way, they were lost. How could it have ended up like this? Not even Slenderman knew. The words to describe what they felt fell utterly short, feeble and understated.

"You look so. . ." Skully began, but stopped as all eyes fell on him. He was going to forget he said anything, but he noticed Slenderman's eyeless gaze, and decided to continue. "It's like a room. A small dark, cold room. Then someone brought in light, which warmed the place for a while. But. . . but then the light was suddenly gone, and now the room doesn't know what to do, because it's dark again - and cold - and it wants the light back so it could feel better, but how can it find the light when it wasn't theirs to begin with?"

"That's _deep_," BEN murmured.

"But true," Jane said. "A great metaphor, though."

Jeff looked up from his plate. "So, we represent the room? And Claudia is the light?"

Skully nodded.

"The light left when Claudia did, so now it's dark," EJ mused softly. "But we can't find her, because she wasn't ours in the first place. . . Yes, I see. She's different - not like us - so she doesn't belong with us. Maybe it's best that we don't find her?"

"Are you saying we just _forget_ about Claudia?!" Jeff snapped.

EJ looked up, his eyes widening beneath his mask. "O-oh, no! That's not what I-"

"It better fucking _not_ be!" Jeff growled, his fist curling around his butter knife angrily.

EJ rose his hands defensively. "I am just saying, maybe she shouldn't have been here in the first place," he tried to reason. "We can't do anything about it now, but I do think we should still find her. I may be a killer, but I do have a heart you know."

_Eyeless Jack is right, Jeff_, Slenderman said telepathically to them all_. We must find Claudia, and then we shall decide what we do with her. Although, I think it may be best that we find a relative of hers, and let her go._

"YOU CAN'T BE FUCKING SERIOUS, SLENDY?!" Jeff barked. "Just - just _let her go?_ This isn't a fucking Passenger song!"


End file.
